Cork chairperson highlights need for reflection on hurling management decision

Cork County Board chairperson Pat Horgan believes that a period of reflection is required before any major decisions are made around the management of the senior hurling team.

Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC final defeat to Tipperary officially brought to an end the three-year term given to Pat Ryan at the beginning of August 2022.

While Horgan expects the football management situation to be resolved by the next county board meeting at the beginning of August, he feels that all sides will take stocks before there are any hurling movements.

“We are all tremendously disappointed after the weekend, but now is a time for reflection and we'll leave time for reflection,” he said.

“The executive will sit down and talk to all the people directly involved over the next couple of weeks.

“The senior hurling is very simple; it is a time for reflection for a couple of weeks and then we'll sit down and talk to everybody concerned.”

Noel Furlong is halfway through a two-year terms as U20 hurling manager, while Donal Mulcahy is expected to graduate from U16 to minor, following the pattern of recent years.

Cork County Board chairperson Pat Horgan (left) and senior hurling manager Pat Ryan. Picture: Jim Coughlan

“That follows the normal process, that is a pathway and that pathway will continue,” Horgan said.

“But obviously we will be sitting down and speaking to him about the whole thing, as we always do. And we have done reviews with managers, as well.

“We have a lot of the reviews done. This is the time for constantly getting on top of it.”

While the year ended with defeat, Horgan was keen to make clear that the majority of the campaign had been positive and acknowledged the support shown to the team.

“In my few words at the banquet, what I said is 35 minutes should not define a team, or a group,” he said.

“The one point I made at the banquet very forcibly was that Sunday was our seventh championship game and every single one of them were sold out. That is something the GAA and business community have benefited from considerably.

“And we are very grateful to our fans for getting behind the team. We are also very grateful to the people who put their hands into their pockets to support the whole thing.”

Horgan also backed the request from the senior team and management not to have a homecoming event in Cork on Monday evening.

“We respected it and we said fine,” he said.

“The thing about the homecoming is that we had never actually put it in place until we saw what the result was. We respected their wishes that they just didn't want to go through with it, and we said that is fine.

“I think that is fair and reasonable. We had it last year, and I think they deserved a bit of space to themselves. I just think it was going to be so, so difficult for everybody involved. We understood.”

Almost immediately, the focus turns to the upcoming county championships. Despite noises nationally that the All-Ireland finals may be moved to a later point, Cork’s internal schedule offers little in the way of space in which to manoeuvre.

“We need our 16 weeks,” he said.

“People will talk about the inter-county being extended, but we don't have any wiggle room unless somebody comes up with a 13-month calendar year that I don't know about.

“I would be saying that we are flat to the mat to try and complete our program that we have.

“ And I don't think there is any appetite out there to change that program or the structure of that program. We did that survey and over 90 percent were happy with the scheduling and the certainty.”

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